Techniques Using an Encryption Tier Property in a Multi-Tiered Storage Environment

1. A method of storing data comprising: providing a plurality of storage tiers including a first set of one or more storage tiers of physical devices and a second set of one or more storage tiers of physical devices, wherein data stored on any physical device in the first set is stored in an encrypted form and data stored on any physical device in the second set is not stored in an encrypted form; specifying a plurality of first settings for a plurality of data portions of a single logical device, wherein a logical address range of the single logical device is partitioned into the plurality of data portions and wherein each data portion of the plurality of data portions is associated with a portion of the logical address range and is associated with a different one of the plurality of first settings whereby said different one of the first settings is any of a tiering preference and tiering requirement having a value that indicates whether data of said each data portion is to be stored on one or more physical devices of a storage tier that stores data in an encrypted form; specifying a first value for a first one of the plurality of first settings that is any of a tiering preference and tiering requirement indicating that a first data portion of the single logical device is to be stored on one or more physical devices of a storage tier that stores data in an encrypted form; and responsive to specifying said first value as the first one of the plurality of first settings, relocating the first data portion of the single logical device currently stored on one or more physical devices of the second set to one or more physical devices of the first set.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the storage devices of the first set are self encrypting drives providing for automatic encryption of data written to any of the physical devices of the first set and automatic decryption of data read from any of the physical devices of the first set.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: modifying the first one of the plurality of first settings from the first value to a second value indicating that the first data portion of the single logical device is to be stored on physical devices of a storage tier that does not store data in an encrypted form; and responsive to specifying said second value as the first setting, relocating the first data portion of the single logical device currently stored on one or more physical devices of the first set to one or more physical devices of the second set.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first set of storage tiers includes a first storage tier of physical devices and a third storage tier of physical devices, and wherein the second set includes a second storage tier of physical devices and a fourth storage tier of physical devices, and wherein the physical devices of the first storage tier are ranked as a higher performing than physical devices of the third storage tier and wherein the physical devices of the second storage tier are ranked as higher performing than physical devices of the fourth storage tier.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein a third value for a second setting is specified that is any of a tiering preference and tiering requirement indicating that the first data portion of the single logical device is to be stored on one or more physical devices of a storage tier having a particular physical drive type, said relocating selecting one or more storage tiers in the first set in accordance with said first value of the first one of the plurality of first settings and the third value of the second setting.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein responsive to specifying said first value for the first one of the plurality of first settings, said relocating relocates the first data portion of the single logical device currently stored on one or more physical devices of any of the second storage tier and the fourth storage tier to one or more physical devices included in any of the first storage tier and the third storage tier.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein said relocating moves, in accordance with current values of the plurality of first settings, a set of data portions of the single logical device, including the first data portion, to any of the first storage tier and the third storage tier wherein each of the data portions in the set is moved to a selected one of the first and third storage tiers in accordance with a current level of activity or workload associated with said each data portion and wherein each of the current values is set to said first value.

8. The method of claim 6 , further comprising: modifying the first one of the plurality of settings from the first value to a second value indicating that the first data portion of the single logical device is to be stored on physical devices of a storage tier that does not store data in an encrypted form; and responsive to specifying said second value for the first one of the plurality of settings, relocating the first data portion of the single logical device currently stored on one or more physical devices of any of the first storage tier and the third storage tier to one or more physical devices of any of the second storage tier and the fourth storage tier.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein the first data portion and a second data portion of the single logical device are included in the set of data portions and are currently stored on one or more physical devices of the second storage tier, the first data portion of the single logical device has a higher level of activity than the second data portion of the single logical device, and wherein said relocating moves the first data portion to the first storage tier and the second data portion to the third storage tier.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein at a subsequent point in time the first data portion of the single logical device has a lower level of activity than the second data portion of the single logical device, and wherein, in accordance with the subsequent point in time, the first data portion is moved to the third storage tier and the second data portion is moved to the first storage tier as part of a data storage movement optimization.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of storage tiers is associated with a set of one or more properties including a first property identifying whether physical devices of said each tier are self encrypting drives.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the set of one or more properties includes a second property identifying a physical drive type.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein said relocating relocates a set of one or more data portions of the single logical device to one or more physical devices of the first set and wherein a status indicator is set to indicate that the set of one or more data portions are stored in an encrypted form responsive to completing relocation of the set of data portions to the first set of one or more storage tiers of physical devices.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein one or more control parameters are specified which affect any of a processing rate, amount of time and priority associated with performing said relocating.

15. A system comprising: a plurality of storage tiers including a first set of one or more storage tiers of physical devices and a second set of one or more storage tiers of physical devices, wherein data stored on any physical device in the first set is stored in an encrypted form and data stored on any physical device in the second set is not stored in an encrypted form; a logical device; a plurality of first settings for a plurality of data portions of the logical device that is a single logical device, wherein a logical address range of the single logical device is partitioned into the plurality of data portions and wherein each data portion of the plurality of data portions is associated with a portion of the logical address range and is associated with a different one of the plurality of first settings whereby said different one of the first settings is any of a tiering preference and tiering requirement having a value that indicates whether data of said each data portion is to be stored on one or more physical devices of a storage tier that stores data in an encrypted form; and a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising code stored thereon that, when executed, performs a method comprising: specifying a first value for a first one of the plurality of first settings that is any of a tiering preference and tiering requirement indicating that a first data portion of the single logical device is to be stored on one or more physical devices of a storage tier that stores data in an encrypted form; and responsive to specifying said first value as the first one of the plurality of first settings, executing code that relocates the first data portion of the single logical device currently stored on one or more physical devices of the second set to one or more physical devices of the first set and moves data of the single logical device between different ones of the plurality of tiers in accordance with criteria including said plurality of first settings for the plurality of data portions of the single logical device.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the first data portion of the single logical device is associated with a second setting that is any of a tiering preference and a tiering requirement identifying a physical drive characteristic or type of physical drive, and wherein the criteria used by the data movement module includes the second setting.

17. The system of claim 15 , further comprising code that performs data movement of the plurality of data portions of the single logical device among the plurality of storage tiers in accordance with criteria including the plurality of first settings for the plurality of data portions of said single logical device and workload or activity associated with each of the plurality of data portions of the single logical device.

18. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising code stored thereon for storing data, the non-transitory computer readable medium comprising code stored thereon that, when executed, performs a method comprising: providing a plurality of storage tiers including a first set of one or more storage tiers of physical devices and a second set of one or more storage tiers of physical devices, wherein data stored on any physical device in the first set is stored in an encrypted form and data stored on any physical device in the second set is not stored in an encrypted form; specifying a plurality of first settings for a plurality of data portions of a single logical device, wherein a logical address range of the single logical device is partitioned into the plurality of data portions and wherein each data portion of the plurality of data portions is associated with a portion of the logical address range and is associated with a different one of the plurality of first settings whereby said different one of the first settings is any of a tiering preference and tiering requirement having a value that indicates whether data of said each data portion is to be stored on one or more physical devices of a storage tier that stores data in an encrypted form; specifying a first value for a first one of the plurality of first settings that is any of a tiering preference and tiering requirement indicating that a first data portion of the single logical device is to be stored on one or more physical devices of a storage tier that stores data in an encrypted form; and responsive to specifying said first value as the first one of the plurality of first settings, relocating the first data portion of the single logical device currently stored on one or more physical devices of the second set to one or more physical devices of the first set.